The United Nations on Thursday announced that Israel’s military issued a warning for one-point-one million Palestinians in Gaza to relocate to the enclave’s south within 24 hours.

However, according to UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, the UN considers such a mass exodus “impossible” without “devastating humanitarian consequences.”

While Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the warning, Palestinians fear it could be a precursor to a massive ground offensive as Israel seeks to take the initiative in the Hamas-instigated war that began last weekend.

Tel Aviv's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said the international body’s response to Israel’s early warning to the residents of Gaza is “shameful,” adding that the UN should focus on condemning Hamas and supporting his country's right to self-defense.

Dujarric says the warning by Israel received by the UN also applies to all of its staff and those sheltered in its facilities, including schools, health centers and clinics.

According to international media reports, the death toll from the bloody conflict has neared 29-hundred, including some 15-hundred from the Gaza strip and 13-hundred from the Israeli side. Total combined casualties from both sides have topped ten-thousand.